A northern Victorian dairy farmer with a long history of involvement in water politics has been elected chair of the Victorian Farmers Federation Water Council.
Murrabit dairy farmer Andrew Leahy chaired the Plug the Pipe group, which opposed plans by a former state government to bring water from the Goulburn River to Melbourne's Sugarloaf Reservoir more than a decade ago.
"Those are the sort of the things I have been involved in, and hopefully I can bring that to the table," Mr Leahy said.
"It's the relationships I have made with everyone that I want to use and work on and help benefit Victorin irrigators."
Mr Leahy was also deputy chair of the Water Council for five years.
He said the VFF and irrigators had a much better relationship with the current state government than during the Bracks and Brumby administrations.
"We are not best mates, but we have to be professional about it and leave the door open to each other," Mr Leahy said.
"The government has stood up for us all along, and they work closely with us.
"We are for Victoria first and Water Minister Lisa Neville has done a good job, in that fight."
Mr Leahy said a priority issue was finding out from the Commonwealth how it intended managing water savings projects, at risk of not being delivered by the 2024 deadline.
Mr Leahy said the offset projects, which are part of the Murray Darling Basin Plan's Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism, need to be front and centre of discussions between Basin water ministers at this week's Ministerial Council meeting.
"The offset projects have become a political football," Mr Leahy said.
"The commonwealth blames the states for being too slow, but the states understandably don't want to pursue projects that are not accepted by and will damage farming communities."
The VFF estimates that by 2024 at least seven of the 36 offset projects will not be achieved, resulting in a 200 gigalitre plus shortfall.
"We urge the states and the Commonwealth to discuss what realistically can be delivered by 2024 and how new projects can be delivered, whilst ensuring no water buybacks occur," Mr Leahy said.
Mr Leahy warned there was every likelihood important projects would not be delivered.
"We know the constraint relaxation projects cannot be achieved because the community totally opposes their land being flooded. It is also very likely that the modelled environmental benefits of the constraints measures will not be achieved because of the reduction in water availability caused by climate change," he said.
Mr Leahy said that legally, the offset projects must recoup 605 GL of water and be delivered by 2024.
Whilst the projects can be modified, legislation does not allow any new ones to be introduced.
"Consistent with the legislation, the Commonwealth has said in their 2014 water recovery strategy that they would buyback water to make up any shortfall," Mr Leahy said.
"However, last year, the Commonwealth promised no more buybacks.
"The Commonwealth is now unclear how they will deal with this shortfall and that provides farmers with little confidence and certainty."
Mr Leahy studied Survey and Mapping at RMIT, working in the irrigation industry as a surveyor and designer of irrigation systems and running his own contracting business.
Mr Leahy has also served as the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria Kerang branch president.
He takes over from Richard Anderson, who spent 19 years on the council, with 15 as chair.
"I won't be doing it for as long as he has," Mr Leahy said.
"Richard has represented every irrigator in the state, over his time, but there will be a bit of different perspective as I am a large dairy farmer."
VFF president Emma Germano congratulated Andrew and thanked Richard for his tireless efforts in the water debate.
"The council looks after all water issues, whether that's groundwater policy, pricing policy or Basin Plan matters," Ms Germano said.
"Governments listen to what we have to say on water policy, and that's why it's important we have somebody in the chair role who is experienced and connected with their community; we believe Andrew meets this brief.
"Richard has lobbied in the interests of irrigators and stock and domestic water users with successive governments, particularly through the Basin Plan negotiations and implementation," Ms Germano said.